Ownership, publishing, royalties and legacy are all wrapped up in the legal fight.
Jimi Hendrix didn’t expect to die at 27 from choking on his own vomit in a London flat. But the maestro went without a will… which has caused a business nightmare over the last 55 years over who controls his estate, and who owns the music. There’ve been numerous court cases through the years. One is set to start later this year in England, to determine whether the estates of his rhythm section – bassist Noel Redding and drummer John “Mitch” Mitchell – are entitled to part-ownership and royalties.
Millions
At stake are millions and millions of dollars that Hendrix’s music has been making, especially since the streaming era. In 1970, his estate was only worth about $3.2 million in today’s money. Now it’s valued at $175 million, and will continue to grow.
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New generations of music fans and aspiring musicians are captivated by what set Hendrix apart – his sound, his playing and songwriting genius— and fashion sense.
Feedback
John Frusciante raves about his exhilarating use of feedback and how he made the whammy bar an emotional tool.
“Hendrix had a big influence on me,” said the Red Hot Chilli Peppers axe man. “I try to make a guitar become a personality.“
Minute
Gary Clark Jr, who fought “the new Hendrix” tag early in his career, noted how “Little Wing” said what it had to say in less than a minute.
“It kept us wanting more, and so that’s why you go and see him live. There, he would branch out and stretch out.”
Rights To Name
The upcoming trial is a text lesson on never giving up rights to a band’s name or image or songs. The founding members of Little River Band did that, and now have problems advertising themselves at their shows.
In the Hendrix case, all three members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience are dead.
Deal
In 1966, when the Experience got together in Swinging London, the three did a deal on ownership and royalty split. Jimi would get 50% and the other two 25% each.
Sign Away
In 1973, Redding and Mitchell signed away these rights.
At the time, it was thought it was the end of the road for Experience record sales, and no one expected that the CD and streaming eras would create a massive boom in their earnings.
Redding was paid $100,000 ($$710,822.07 today) and Mitchell $240,000 ($1,782,240).
Signing
Even more damnable, both signed documents they would not again go after the earnings.
Jimi went in September 18, 1970, found unconscious that morning by his girlfriend in her flat at the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent in Notting Hill.
Sick with flu and exhausted for days before from lack of sleep, he took a deadly combination of sleeping tablets and a crate of champagne.
Bleeding
Noel was found dead in his home in Ireland on May 11, 2003, due to bleeding related to serious liver diseases. He was 57.
Mitch went in 2008, in his sleep of natural causes after a US tour playing Hendrix songs with guitar heroes as Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Robby Krieger. He was suffering extreme fatigue for some years and on the tour could only play a few songs.
Share
In February 2022, both Noel and Mitch’s estates went to court claiming they were owed a share of the royalties from the Experience catalogue. They wanted the copyright reassigned as well as get compensation on lost revenue and interest on that sum, plus damages and legal costs. They argued the two “have not been compensated for their work and both died in relative poverty”.
Thrown Out
Sony Music tried to get the case thrown out. Sony had not been in the picture when the Experience chased hit singles up and down the global charts in the 1960s.
But in 2009 it was given exclusive licensing rights for the Experience catalogue by the Hendrix estate (Experience Hendrix) to repackage the studio albums, issue “official bootlegs” of concerts, and do compilations.
Rights
Sony argued Redding and Mitchell had signed away their rights in 1973 and had further promised not to fight for them.
The music giant argued that immediately after Jimi’s death, all rights went solely to his father, James “Al” Hendrix. In its finding in January 2024, the High Court in London agreed with the estates.
Digital Age
It found that Noel and Mitch’s 1966 agreement did not take in account the modern digital-age exploitation of their performers’ property rights. The High Court wanted this to be investigated. It also turned down Sony’s argument the case was out of time and too late.
Sony tried to overturn this ruling in the Court of Appeal. Last Thursday (Feb. 6) a three-judge panel agreed with the original ruling, and ruled the case could move to trial.
Denying
After the ruling, a lawyer for the two estates, Lawrence Abramson, said: “No one is denying that Jimi Hendrix was one of, if not the, greatest guitarist of all time.
“But he didn’t make his recordings alone and they could not have achieved any success without the contributions of Noel and Mitch.”
Managers
To make the ownership argument even more confusing, the Experience also agreed that some of their royalties go to the two 1960s managers who’d helped create their success.
Chas Chandler, one time member of The Animals (“House Of The Rising Sun”) found Jimi unknown in a New York club, and brought him over to London to launch his career.
Track
The Experience could not get a record deal, until The Who’s co-manager Kit Lambert stepped in and signed them to his Track Records. Chandler died in July 1996, aged 57, from heart problems.
Fund
He had brought in Mike Jeffreys, The Animals’ business manager, to fund Jimi’s career. Jeffreys was a controversial figure who siphoned off the JHE’s income to offshore bank accounts.
He was wildly rumoured to have “killed” Hendrix for the insurance money (rejected by the coroner) and almost had Hendrix kidnapped by alleged Mafia connections over a bad deal.
Perished
Jeffery perished in a mid-air collision over Nantes, France, on March 5, 1973, just before his 40th birthday. In October 2006, items from his estate went on auction for $15 million, including the rights to songs as “Purple Haze” and “Voodoo Child”.
Jimi’s estate, Experience Hendrix, insisted it owned the rights and threatened to sue.
Family
Another headache over the squabble over the Hendrix rights has been Jimi’s own family. When his father Al died in April 2002, his will left control of Experience Hendrix to his adopted daughter Janine and nephew Robert Hendrix.
Jimi’s younger brother, Leon, a painter and musician, angrily tried to have Al’s will overturned.
Not Entitled
But a court ruled in 2004 that Leon “was not entitled to anything from his father’s will, other than a single gold record left to him.”
Leon has been banned from using Jimi’s name for commercial profit.
Twice
But at least twice, a court has stopped him and niece Tina Hendrix. One was using his name to sell “cannabis, edibles, food, wine, alcohol, ‘medicines’ and electronic products.”
In 2021 they were found in contempt when trying to start a music school using his name.
Sales
Given the jacked-whack of the way Hendrix revolutionised rock music and the boundaries of guitar, it’s hard to believe that he was only a superstar for four years, from 1966 to 1970. He made three with the Experience. Are You Experienced (1967) sold 9.21 million worldwide, and 227, 550 in Australia.
Axis Bold As Love (1967) shifted 4.68 million around the world, of which 100,000 came from the great southern land.
Ladyland
Electric Ladyland (1968) notched up sales of 7.71 million, and 205,000 in Australia.
After that came Band of Gypsies, whose self titled album (1970) did 4.7 million and found a home in160,000 Aussie households. But in the explosion in demand for Hendrix music in the download, streaming and ringtone eras – and latest data including many reissues and repackaging of those classic albums – the figures are different.
Latest Figures
Latest combined physical and digital sales now put Are You Experienced as exceeding 27.8 million, aided with tracks as “Foxy Lady”, “The Wind Cries Mary”. “Hey Joe”, “Fire”, “Manic Depression” and “Third Stone From The Sun”.
Electric Ladyland is now at 17 million, hosting “Voodoo Child”, “Crosstown Traffic”, “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” and “Gypsy Eyes”.
Both Axis: Bold as Love and later First Rays of The New Rising are close to 5 million, Band Of Gypsies nearing 3 million, while later albums South Saturn Delta and Valleys Of Neptune are over 2 million each.
Watchtower
In terms of singles, Hendrix’s sublime interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” is his best seller, at 17.3 million.
Following are “Purple Haze” (13.9 million), “Hey Joe” (9.9 million), “Little Wing” (6.2 million), “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” (5.3 million), “Hear My Train A Comin’” (4.9 million), “Red House” (4.4 million) and “Foxy Lady” (4.1 million). After Jimi’s demise, the four albums created no less than 500 compilations.
Repackages
They included repackages with new tracks and live shows.
With demand at a high, all sorts of small-time labels jumped on the bandwagon with budget cheapos, with jam sessions (with the likes of Johnny Winter, Jim Morrison, John McLaughlin and Stephen Stills) and third rate cash-ins when a pre-fame Hendrix was sideman to Curtis Knight, Don Covay, Isley Brothers, King Curtis or Eire Apparent.
Many of these managed to fly under the copyright radar.
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